Juubee Ninpuuchou

Jubei Kibagami wanders feudal Japan as an itinerant swordsman-for-hire. After a past betrayal left him masterless, he has no more patience for warring political factions and their schemes. Unfortunately, both past and political intrigue collide when he meets and saves a female ninja named Kagero from a man with the ability to make his body as hard as stone.

The sole survivor of a ninja clan, Kagero continues her team's last mission: investigate a mysterious plague that wiped out an entire village. Jubei wants nothing to do with this, but the stone-like man's allies, a group of ninja with supernatural powers known as the Devils of Kimon, make that option difficult. To make matters worse, a government spy poisons Jubei, promising him an antidote if he can unravel the true intentions of the Devils of Kimon and their connection to the plague. The trail leads to shadow leaders, a plot to overthrow the government, and a man that Jubei thought he would never see again.

Kibagami, Jubei Main

Yamadera, Kouichi Japanese

Kagero Main

Shinohara, Emi Japanese

Benisato Supporting

Takashima, Gara Japanese

Himuro, Gemma Supporting

Gouri, Daisuke Japanese

Dakuan Supporting

Aono, Takeshi Japanese

Zakuro Supporting

Katsuki, Masako Japanese

Tessai Supporting

Ootomo, Ryuuzaburou Japanese

Shijima Supporting

Oomori, Akimasa Japanese

Yurimaru Supporting

Seki, Toshihiko Japanese

Utsutsu, Mujuro Supporting

Wakamoto, Norio Japanese

Maseba, Yutaka Producer

Ikeguchi, Kazuhiko Assistant Producer

Kawajiri, Yoshiaki Director, Screenplay, Key Animation, Original Character Design, Original Creator

Hamasaki, Hiroshi Key Animation

Reviews

Apr 14, 2008

Phill-z

Recommended

Ah Ninja Scroll, the epitome of everything a ninja anime needs and tries...and fails to be. My friend and I saw this at our local Blockbuster and he had heard of it from a coworker who said "WATCH THIS MOVIE!" Now generally when I get recommendations from my friends I don't enjoy them all too much but Ninja Scroll was and is possibly one of my favourite films.

Story: Ninja Scroll in a very realistic sense is an anime B-movie. So the story was pretty heinous. Essentially the entire plot can be seen as a device to switch setting and to move ... to the next fight scene. However the story itself (if you're actually paying attention) isn't all too bad. There were some interesting little character developments and a couple neat twists and turns. It gets slightly weird towards the end and the actual ending itself was a little lacking. But the forte of the anime is the action scenes. Almost all of them were brilliant, I say almost all because frankly I wanted to see a couple stretched out a little longer. Each enemy that Jubei faces is different and even though it's pretty clear that he can't be beaten it's interesting to see him face some of the tougher opponenets.

Art: The art completely and perfectly suits the feel of the anime. The art isn't good, it isn't bright or colourful....it's mediocre. But the movie wouldn't feel right without the style of art that's used. Granted there were 2-3 moments where I was forced to turn on the lights because I felt like I was going to have a seizure. Most of the screen flashed red and black really quickly and I quickly averted my eyes. But that's my only qualm about the art.

Sound: Cheesy, oldschool....perfect for the movie.

Character: Jubeii is....the best and most powerful swordsman ever. Well, maybe not ever, but he's still pretty amazing and he has a good heart. All the characters are pretty one dimensional are never developed. You get a couple "reveal" moments, but they're a little bit boring as well. About the only noteworthy character is Kagero. I felt really sorry for her during pretty much the entire movie. However the interactions and "development" of characters is meaningless to the film. The film is about action and fighting so, for me at least, it's understandable that the characters are pretty flat.

Enjoyment: I love Ninja Scroll. It's a seriously fun ride. There's nothing deep about it, there's no meaning to it....the film is about action and that's exactly what it delivers. The movie is also quite gory and has a lot of nudity in it. There's also a really hilarious sex-scene...well...it was at least funny to me. There's also rape...so if you're offended by that you probably should steer clear.

If you enjoy Ninja Scroll, which I can only hope you do, you should definitely check out Wicked City, which is from the same director and in many respects is practically the same film.

Reviewer’s Rating: 10

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Apr 24, 2015

defunctmaluser

Mixed Feelings

With the recent onslaught of wish-fulfilment garbage and grimdark bullshit getting popular as of late, a lot of people have taken up the mantra that anime nowadays is shit and that the older stuff is undoubtedly better. Whilst I can certainly see where those people are coming from, I want to take a better look at what the so-called "good old days" of anime really had to offer. Today, we're taking a look at Ninja Scroll: a harbinger of nostalgia for the many oldtaku here on MAL that actually bought tickets to see Akira and Ghost in the Shell in theatres when they first came ... to USA. Is Ninja Scroll truly a masterpiece like the nostalgia-hungry oldtaku out there make it seem? Nope. Is it still an enjoyable movie to watch? Indeed it is, now let's get into great lengths to find out why.

Before I actually get into the review itself, I want to make one thing perfectly clear: anime from "back in the day" wasn't that great. Sure, we had plenty of awesome stuff like Akira, Ghost in the Shell, Evangelion, Cowboy Bebop, and Legend of the Galactic Heroes coming out but there was a LOT of garbage that came our way as well (mostly in the form of ultra-violent OVAs and movies) like Angel Cop, Genocyber, Devilman, MD Geist, and Violence Jack. As much as it pains me to say this, Ninja Scroll falls into the latter group as opposed to the former. Thankfully enough though, Ninja Scroll is nowhere near as awful as Genocyber, Devilman, or Violence Jack! In fact, it was quite the enjoyable movie.

Make no mistake, Ninja Scroll perfectly encapsulates the time period that it came out in: it's bloody, it's violent, and has enough out-of-place sex scenes and nudity to go around for everyone. At the same time, it still manages to cut the crap and tell a decent story without going overboard on the bloody violence and the sex (take notes, Mirai Nikki and Akame ga Kill!). From what I understand, Ninja Scroll wasn't that different from the other stuff that came out during the same time period so this begs the question of WHY it got so popular in the first place. Whilst I don't know what the situation with Ninja Scroll is in Japan, it's not that hard to see how it got so popular here in the west back in the early 90s.

Until Akira came to the USA, there was no such thing as animation meant for adults. Akira paved the way for companies like ADV Films, Manga Entertainment, and Central Park Media to start licensing OVAs and movies for distribution here with dubs and everything. Anime at the time was still a hipster thing, but it was easy to come by at your local video store from what I can gather. When people picked up these ultra-violent OVAs and movies like Ninja Scroll, it was the shock value that kept people coming back for more because let's face it: THIS was the stuff that you just couldn't get on Toonami at the time. Thus, the first otakus were born and the plague of weeaboos began to spread throughout the West.

With all of that out of the way, let's talk about how well Ninja Scroll can tell a story. Surprisingly enough, the story was actually quite nice. It's your standard tale of revenge/saving the fate of the country story that we tend to see a lot of when it comes down to samurai/ninja movies but the execution was fair enough to say the least. Also, I know that Ninja Scroll came out WAY before Naruto ever did but I just love the fact that there's no jutsus or annoying blond kids punctuating their sentences with the phrase "Believe it!" There certainly are parts of the movie that get rather ridiculous (i.e. Kagero and her deal with poisons, that guy with rock skin, the whole business with "reincarnation" and all that crap), but it was cool enough for me to look past that. Characters are par for the course. You have your wandering swordsman/ninja, the tough girl with her fair share of troubles, the wise old guy, etc. They're not gonna win any awards for originality, but at least I can find myself wanting to root for the protagonists and hate the villains and lal that junk.

From a production standpoint, Ninja Scroll is a far cry from the likes of Akira and Ghost in the Shell. Even though Madhouse has a reputation for top-notch visuals nowadays, they weren't exactly known for their stellar production values in the 90s. Thankfully, Ninja Scroll is still pretty damn good when it comes down to the visual department. Action scenes are deliciously savage and as far as the nudity goes, it does my heart good to know that animators still took the time to painstakingly draw out jiggle physics. The actual artwork is pretty good, but I've seen better when it comes down to the backgrounds and character models (but this is my own personal bias kicking in). Similarly, the OST is quite nice: all the tracks fit the mood like they're supposed to but there wasn't much in the way of tracks that stood out to my ear when I was watching the movie. The dub itself is surprisingly well-made, especially given that it came out in the mid 90s when there was no gold standard for dub quality. All the actors did a great job, so there's not much else I can say there.

Final thoughts? I'd say that Ninja Scroll was a rather entertaining watch and if I were so inclined, I'd go ahead and buy it on DVD/Blu-ray. With garbage like Sword Art Online, Tokyo Ghoul and Akame ga Kill! gaining popularity in recent years, it's not hard to see why people would go ahead and say that they miss the "good old days" of anime. However, Ninja Scroll was by no means a masterpiece. At its core, Ninja Scroll is a simple action flick that got popular overseas due to the fact that people thought that everything that was animated was meant for children. Let's just be grateful that's no longer the case anymore. Anyway, that's all for now. Feedback is always welcome and with that, I'm out. Peace :)

Reviewer’s Rating: 6

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Aug 5, 2007

YourMessageHere

Not Recommended

Ninja Scroll was one of the first examples of anime I ever saw, and it made a lasting impression on me - a bad one. Luckily, I was already convinced of the ability of anime to stand up to anything that live action could throw at it. This, on the other hand, went a long way towards making me realise that, as with anything else (I now realise - I was young and had no sense), not all anime is superb.

So, what's wrong? Well, ninjas. I await the day when I can see a ninja character that I can even begin ... to believe in. However, it seems it is illegal to have ninjas that you can actually believe in; they all have to be supernatural and/or sublimely skilled, to an order of magnitude above and beyond your garden variety trained killer. Ninja Scroll is the very epitome of this attitude. They're not just sneaky guys with throwing knives, they turn to stone and have steerable mystic claws on endless chains and can hold off their own deaths until they deliver that one vital message. All the most hackneyed and OTT things you can imagine ninjas doing, in all the most trashy b-movies and cheesy games, they happen here. It's also, to my eye, unnecessarily nasty in its graphicness, tone and inference - I'm not squeamish, but I would rather gore had some point. Think Naruto meets Urotsukidoji, but with rather less sex and filler episodes, and zero lightheartedness or charm.

Everything in Ninja Scroll is resolutely (tediously) grim and opressive all the time. It's actually quite tiring. All the characters are also gratingly simplistic. There's a hero, a heroine who is not allowed to be strong enough to look after herself in order that our hero Jubei can save her from a nasty fate, assorted sneaky buggers and of course all those supernatural ninjas. No-one is remotely credible as a character. Of course, they're not supposed to be, really, Ninja Scroll is clearly a very long way from realism. The point is, this is a genre piece, and if you're not enamoured of the stereotype of ninjas, well, this'll not do anything to persuade you. Then again, if Magikal Ninjery is your line, I'm sure you'll think I should rate this way higher.

To be fair, it's not the worst thing ever in the history of ever. The art style isn't really my cup of tea, but is distinctive and unique, with bold outlines, solid colours and overall a very stylised look. Some of the ideas, if you can get past the basic ridiculousness to suspend your disbelief, are inventive and unexpected. However, I was unable to make it that far.

I'm not going to pretend to be objective or anything, this is what I think, and I think Ninja Scroll is terrible. There are likely many who will disagree, but there it is, it's the kind of thing that polarises opinions.

Reviewer’s Rating: 3

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